According to state prosecutors, Nana Nhyira Agyapong who confirmed that he spent the GH¢ 1, 079,728 on sports betting, was fingered after an internal audit had been conducted on the company’s funds.

He has, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge of stealing and forgery at the court, presided over by Ellen Offei-Ayeh.

He is to re-appear on April 4, 2022.

Prosecution’s facts

The facts as presented by the prosecutor, Inspector Maxwell Ayim, were that on March 4 this year, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Antwi Boahen, gave Agyapong GH¢ 800,000 to deposit into the bank account of the company’s supplier’s account.

The accused, he said, was given the stamped deposit slip with face value, GH¢ 800,000 to indicate proof of deposit.

The prosecutor said the complainant also forwarded a copy of the deposit slip to his suppliers as proof of payment.

However, on March 14, 2022, the CEO received feedback from his suppliers to indicate that no money had been deposited into the said account.

“The CEO confronted the accused person and he confessed to him that he did not deposit any money on the said date and that the payslip he sent to him was forged,” the prosecutor told the court.

Internal audit

That prompted the CEO to conduct an internal audit of all the company’s funds which were supervised by Agyapong.

The audit, he said, revealed that an additional GH¢ 279,728 was unaccounted for, making a total of GH¢ 1, 079,728.

This caused the complainant to report the case to the police for investigation which subsequently led to Agyapong’s arrest.

“The accused person admitted the offences in his caution statement to the police, and stated that he used the money to stake Spotify bet and 1xbet but lost,” the prosecutor added.

Again, Inspector Ayim said Agyapong stated that he failed to deposit the money but went to the banking hall, filled the deposit slip form at the bank, appended the received stamp on the duplicate when the teller was not looking.

“Investigation revealed that from September 2021 to March 2022, the accused person spent a total of GH¢ 1,285,034 on soccer bet,” he added.